Rua Exploited Machida’s Counter to Kicks in Rematch Win

When given a second chance, Mauricio
“Shogun” Rua left little to debate with his first-round
knockout of Lyoto
Machida in their light heavyweight rematch at UFC 113 Saturday
at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

After falling short in a highly controversial five-round decision
loss to Machida at UFC 104 last September in Los Angeles, Rua
delivered a tour-de-force performance against his elusive Brazilian
brethren, clipping the 205-pound champion with an overhand right
three minutes into the first round that sent the champion to the
canvas.

“When I connected with the overhand right punch standing up, I
already noticed that he was going out, and then I took the
opportunity to keep punching him on the ground until the referee
would stop it,” said Rua, who actually stopped punching before the
official intervened.

The 28-year-old Rua, who won Pride Fighting Championships’
ultra-competitive middleweight grand prix in 2005, didn’t dwell on
his loss to Machida last fall, though the unanimous decision handed
down by three judges, who all scored the rounds differently, caused
outrage in the MMA community.

“I tried not to think about my first fight and all the controversy
that there was in the first fight just served as motivation,” said
Rua. “For this fight, I knew him better, so I tried to exploit him
and to take more risk, take chances and go to finish the
fight.”

Rua said he studied the first fight to find holes in the previously
impenetrable Machida’s game.

“I noticed that every time he would try to attack on the timing of
my kicks, he was attacking, but without his guard in proper place
with his face exposed,” said Rua, “so that’s why I worked a lot
this time, not only on the kicks, but also for (the) overhand right
punch to surprise him when he was trying to move in for my
kicks.”

Saturday’s victory serves as vindication for the October loss and
Rua’s slow start in the promotion. Rua was dominated and submitted
in the third round of his underwhelming Octagon debut by “Ultimate
Fighter” upstart Forrest
Griffin at UFC 76 in September 2007. Though he won his next
bout to aging former UFC champion Mark Coleman
at UFC 93 in January 2009, Rua’s uninspiring performance didn’t
hold a candle to his stellar run through Japan’s then vibrant
fighting circuit in 2004-2006. That run included wins over former
UFC champion Quinton
"Rampage" Jackson and current 205-pound contender Antonio
Rogerio Nogueira.

The Brazilian fighter said two consecutive knee surgeries about
three years ago were difficult to rebound from, and also dismissed
last-minute reports Saturday that his knee was still bothering
him.

“That was very tough and people were criticizing a lot, but I took
that as motivation because I worked so hard, that when I (was)
going through that type of criticism, I tried to think that
somebody has to pay the bill,” said Rua. “Somebody has to pay for
what I’m going through, so I tried to do that in my fights and pay
back when I’m fighting.”

UFC President Dana White said he was thoroughly bowled over by
Rua’s performance on Saturday.

“Sometime there’s only that one opportunity in a fight to end (it)
and some of these guys take it and go after it,” said White.
“Shogun is the man. Beating a guy like Machida the way he did in
the first round, I don’t even know the word to explain that. That’s
awesome.”